Gay Couple in Malawi Get Maximum Sentence of 14 Years in Prison

Published: May 21, 2010

JOHANNESBURG -- Two gay men in Malawi, convicted this week of unnatural acts and gross indecency, were sentenced Thursday to the maximum penalty allowed by law, 14 years of hard labor in prison.

The harsh sentence was immediately deplored by human rights groups around the world, but Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa, in reading his judgment, seemed adamant in his ruling. He said he was especially offended that the two lovers celebrated their relationship in public with an engagement party.

''I do not believe Malawi is ready at this point in time to see its sons getting married to other sons, or cohabitating, or conducting engagement ceremonies,'' the magistrate said. ''Malawi is not ready to smile at her daughters marrying each other. Let posterity judge this judgment.''

The couple -- Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 33, and Steven Monjeza, 26 -- remained still as they heard the sentence, though Mr. Monjeza was seen weeping after the two were handcuffed and led away. As with earlier court appearances, a sizable crowd was outside, mostly to ridicule the men and rejoice at the spectacle.

Homosexuality is regarded as detestable by most people in Malawi, an impoverished nation of 15 million in southern Africa. Gays, lesbians and transgender people do not dare demonstrate their affections in public.

This custom of concealment is what made the engagement party -- called a chinkhoswe in the Chichewa language -- held at a lodge in Blantyre so exceptional. A newspaper reported the event on its front page, and two days later, on Dec. 28, the couple was arrested. They were refused bail.

''I cannot imagine more aggravated sodomy than where perpetrators go on to seek heroism without any remorse, in public with a chinkhoswe ceremony,'' the magistrate said Thursday in a small, overcrowded courtroom in Blantyre, Malawi's largest city.

But the two have denied that any heroics were intended. Their actions were not planned as any assertion of gay rights, they said. They were simply na? about the possible repercussions.

''I just wanted people to know we were in love,'' Mr. Chimbalanga said in an interview earlier this year. He said he considered himself a woman and had been eager to dress as a bride.

Their conviction is likely to be appealed, though their lawyer, Mauya Msuku, said he would have to confer with his clients.

Human rights activists not only encouraged such an appeal but also asked for widespread protests around the world. ''We are calling for our government in South Africa to denounce what was done and call on the Malawian government to quash the court's decision,'' said Mark Heywood, director of the Johannesburg-based AIDS Law Project.

Michel Sidib?executive director of Unaids, the United Nations AIDS agency, said, ''We're calling strongly for the government to revisit this issue as a matter of dignity and human rights.'' He added that Malawi was only one of 80 countries with ''homophobic laws,'' and said that even before the verdict, he had planned to go to Malawi next week, where ''I will use the opportunity to raise the issue with the president.''

This week, the State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said at a news briefing that the United States government was ''deeply disappointed'' with the verdict and called for ''the decriminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity'' in Malawi and elsewhere.

About 40 percent of Malawi's budget comes from foreign aid, but Leckford Thotho, the minister of information and civic affairs, insisted that the government would not be cowed by the indignation of donors. ''You must understand the culture and traditions of Malawi, and what these two did is taboo,'' he said.

The nation's clergy have been united in condemning the gay couple. ''God calls homosexuality an abomination, which is greater than a simple sin,'' the Rev. Felix Zalimba, pastor of the All for Jesus Church in Blantyre, said Thursday. He said church and state were aligned in agreement: ''These two must repent and ask God's forgiveness. Otherwise, they will surely go to hell.''